It was Halloween 2011

You recall the much time and energy I spent creating pioneer outfits for myself and others in July? Well, you may think this would translate easily into a Halloween costume and truck-or-treat idea.

Man, that was sooo July. October its all about HOGWARTS. Unfortunately that picture and the following,
were the only pictures I got at the trunk-or-treat. Yes, I forgot my camera. Yes, I parked in a poor spot for pictures. In my defense, last year I was all washed out so I was trying to get away from the big lights.

I think the big lights would have helped this year. I thought later I should have brought my oil lamp. Duh.

Other people took my picture (some on the sly) and a few said they would send them to me but I've heard that before (from me).

But never fear! My good friend Pat come over afterwards so she could take pictures of it all set up in my garage. Its what good friends do.When they saw me, most people said "Harry Potter!" To which I replied "Do I look like a boy?"Here's the outfit. I remembered the next day that I was going to do my hair in braids... For some reason the hair always gets forgotten in my costumes (unless I'm wearing a turban).
Can you tell which house I'm in? After "Harry Potter!" it was "Hermione?"
"BLUE TIE! What's my middle name?"
"Are you a teacher?" "I'm Penelope Clearwater from Ravenclaw... " (the four house colors and crest)
"And I'm making polyjuice potion in my NEWT level class."
(It was the only recipe I could find on line. Wanted to do Veritaserum cuz its clear but couldn't find a recipe.... not that it really mattered... )
Of course I had my book bag filled with books and parchment... and a water bottle. Wizards need to stay hydrated as well.
Here Pat is Vanna-ing the sorting hat.
I just took my witches hat and made a brown fabric cover for it. Elizabeth's older children tried it on and when I asked them if they were brave, smart, cute, or sneaky, they both replied "SNEAKY!" Slytherin it was.

I forgot to put a few things out for the photo shoot outside so I set it back up inside again.
I had already done a trial run the Saturday before. With all the ideas I had running around in my head (a chess set, random things in bottles, rolls of parchment and books) I'm glad I did. I had plenty to fill up my table and didn't need anything more.
Labels such as salamander blood, doxie eggs, eye of newt, and powdered bicorn.
And my pot, bubbling with dry ice.
A set of brass scales (which Emily told me looked like drug paraphernalia)
My escaping frog (I'm an older student so frogs were still in vogue).
I put some threads in this jar (essence of murtlap) so it would look nasty but you couldn't tell in the dark of the parking lot.
My father made this beautiful wand for me... which I didn't have time to paint but I think it has its own character. Ash, 9 3/4", Unicorn Hair.
All in all, I think it was a success. I might or might not still have it all set up in my living room.
I think I managed to keep up the standard I set last year. BTW, anybody need a nice white men's shirt (medium) and/or charcoal sweater?

PS. Here are some close ups on my color bands in the sweater. It took a long time to sew on so you need to appreciate it. The scarf I spent 3 weeks knitting wrong will get it's own post.I wore my costume to work on Halloween (minus the cloak) and it wasn't until 2pm that one of the engineers stopped on his way past my cubicle and said "Wait... its that kids movie! I've been trying to figure it out since this morning when I heard you say you were in costume".

This is why I've never done halloween for work before (witches hat and my "Italian Goddess" t-shirt doesn't count). Perhaps if I had been wearing the cloak and brandishing the wand..